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Location: Ft. Washington/Oxon Hill border, MD (Prince George's County)
321 posts, read 812,835 times
Reputation: 233
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC
Sunday morning (church) is the most segregated hour in America. Nobody seems to be terribly bothered by that, right? It's a matter of personal choice of where one decides to worship, right?
So why do any of you care whether a family decides not to consider a neighborhood because of it's racial make-up (white or black)? It's a matter of personal choice, right? Why that offends anyone is beyond me, and how that could be considered racism smacks of the political correctness that will ruin this country.
Flame me to death, I don't care. My values and what I want to achieve for me and my family will trump political correctness disguised as diversity anyday.
As long as it continues to be illegal for someone to restrict people to living in any one area based on race (frankly people are most restricted today by their socioeconomic class and where they can afford to live versus race) and as long as one does not desire such laws to be in place and is welcoming to good citizens of a different race/national origin/ethnicity if they move into an otherwise homogenous area then I don't have a problem with that view.
There are just as many people who choose where they live because they desire to live amongst a diverse group as there are who choose to segregate themselves amongst those that look just like them. You may try to empathize that for some they moved to an area partially because of the fact that it was diverse and to find that one group is "fleeing" may end up creating a non-diverse area which was the very thing they were trying to avoid in the first place.
I work with fellow attorneys who specifically relocated (some to the DC area from other states and some within the DC area) because they had concerns that their kids were growing up in a community that was too homogenous as they recognize that we are increasingly competing in a global economy and our children will be doing so even more than we are now. This was as important to them as finding a school with good AP classes. Attending large colleges in major cities and your initial jobs are always an eye opener for people as they are thrust into a world where parents can no longer shelter them and control their environment. There is a major culture shock...Hello! Welcome to the real world! That is where it is common to hear those of racial/national origin/ethnic diversity complain of ignorant questions/comments by formerly sheltered classmates/coworkers who are shamelessly ignorant about anyone elses culture than their own. It is a given that a minority has to learn the majority culture and how to fit in with them. What many find disappointing is that the majority culture (for a few more years anyway) has no interest in learning more about minority cultures and in fact often wants to avoid any contact with them at all which perpetuates learning everything you know from third party sources versus the actual people....who are individuals and not all homogenous thinkers and actors. That is one of those things that put us at a disadvantage as Americans and why so many consider us arrogant outside of this country. So many learn our language in addition to their own, they learn our culture in addition to their own (our culture is one of our biggest exports)...but so many of us could care less about learning about anything outside the bubble we create for ourselves. I want my kids to go to a bat mitzvah, a traditional Indian wedding, to know some Spanish...that is what may inevitably happen in diverse neighborhoods in the area. That is just as an important part of a child's development to me as their score on some state standardized test.
It is definitely a personal choice. I am happy we have such choices available to us in this country. I think it would be easier to empathize with topics like "white flight" if you are part of the minority group moving in instead of the people who are fleeing (such fleeing will never end as the demographics constantly shift). If everytime you walked into a room a large group of people left you'd probably have some concerns about it as well. If we can get to a point where all kids get an equal education no matter what zip code their parents can afford to live in we will all be better off....with socioeconomic differences better choices are not always available. We truly have more classism I feel in this country than racism....or at least in this area. There are people of the same complexion that my well to do executive colleagues will never want to live around more so because of the fact that they are of a lower socioeconomic class. I think most people want to live around likeminded people who share their values and want to live in a safe clean neighborly place with a good education for their kids and surrounded by things they like to do, eat and patronize. What scares some people to death right now is the fact that home prices are dropping and what used to be a natural financial barrier to keeping certain people out of a neighborhood is changing. Foreclosed homes in distant exurbs become the future Section 8 housing and land closer in continues to hold its value. Projects close in to the city are being bulldozed, that land is being redeveloped and those former residents are "relocated" to a nice HUD home in a suburb near you. And folks will flee right back to where they fled from in the first place.
Very well-said! We ended up buying a home in Fairfax County (Burke) about 4wks ago, because ultimately I just wasn't reassured that the PG County schools will get better and we can't afford Private Schools. I've been trying to find a hair salon that does black hair (relaxer w/ wrap&curl), and have yet to find one. I also see NO black people in my neighborhood or at the grocery stores, and it's starting to make me quite sad. Definitely I felt more pride to live in Upper Marlboro, and I'm really worried that my children won't have that opportunity to grow up among normal black families, and might just believe the sterotypes they see in the media. It's hard to strike the right balance, b/c the schools in PG County are often 95% Black, with low SAT scores, and that's not representative of the race either.
I may be able to help on the hairdresser issue. I live in FFX County and found a salon in Woodbridge. I don't think I can post her info here but if you send me a message, I'll send her info to you.
Bowie is fine, except for one thing-it is in PG County, the folks who run things there are not very good, and this isn't being racial-I lived there when it was majority white and it was run by stupid people, it is now mostly black and it is still being run by stupid people. Sorry to be harsh, but unless you find a great private school-the long term outlook for your children's education will be at best only half of what it would be in Burke. Fairfax County is way more diverse than PG County-which went from majority White to Black, while Fairfax County has a multitude of cultures in it's schools. Yes, Whites are dominant in the ones in Burke, but these kid's don't go around with Confederate Flags and harass the poor old Black Folks. If you do decide to stay in Maryland, please take your kid's and move over into Montgomery or Calvert or Anne Arundel. To PG residents who like their county and Bowie-fine, Bowie is a great place in comparison to most of PG. I am originally from there and lived a long time there. PG's problem is who runs the county, it has a greedy-crooked mindset that was started way back in the 70's with that no good Thomas Mike Miller-who now ruins/er I mean runs the Maryland Statehouse-he and his cronies helped to set the county of a bad track way back then, it seems to have never gotten itself out of it. Sorry to be blunt, but I still worked there for several years after moving from there.
Sweetpotater58 I agree, Im a young (late 20's)Bowie resident who happens to be an American of east african descent and I really like my neighborhood (p section). Yes the statisitics show white flight is occuring in Bowie as it occurs in many other neighborhoods in MD and in different regions of the US. This is not a new phenomenon. And it doesnt bother me one bit, what I find disturbing is that the resources I enjoy and expect as a resident of Bowie appear to be fleeing with the individuals who choose to move. The quality of life in the neighborhood seems to decrease in concurrence with the mass movement. Thats the issue I care to address, I could care less if my neighbor is of any other ethnicity. I do live in a truly diverse neighborhood: asians, indians, whites, black, africans etc. and everyone lives their life as they please. But thats irrelevent to me. What im Im truly concernd about is the quality of education provided in the county. Recently Maryland public schools were ranked #1 in the COUNTRY, however Pg is listed near the bottom in performance in the state. Thats is terrible. I grew up and went to public schools in the County, and I recieved my MBA in this county too, so the opportunities are there. But For me to detail the laundry list of reasons why kids under perform in this County is for another forum. However Im planning to have children shortly, and I probably will not be around in Bowie when their of school age (sadly). I guess in a few years Ill be a contributing factor for a family in Anne Arrundle or Howard county' decision for flight.
In Bowie, it's not so much white flight, as it is white families with grown kids are moving away from the area, as affluent blacks move in. Bowie as a whole is much more affluent than it was 10 years ago (around the time when the Borders Books in Bowie opened.)
Most of my friends who grew up in Bowie were white and Asian, and their families have moved away now that their kids are grown and out of school. That said, I'm sure there are plenty of white families that continue to move to Bowie for it's affluent, stable neighborhoods, good schools, and convenience to DC and Annapolis, but yes, the demographics are shifting.
In Bowie, it's not so much white flight, as it is white families with grown kids are moving away from the area, as affluent blacks move in. Bowie as a whole is much more affluent than it was 10 years ago (around the time when the Borders Books in Bowie opened.)
Most of my friends who grew up in Bowie were white and Asian, and their families have moved away now that their kids are grown and out of school. That said, I'm sure there are plenty of white families that continue to move to Bowie for it's affluent, stable neighborhoods, good schools, and convenience to DC and Annapolis, but yes, the demographics are shifting.
Calling Bowie affluent is misleading. It may be "affluent" relative to other areas in PG, but not affluent relative to affluent areas in other counties.
Calling Bowie affluent is misleading. It may be "affluent" relative to other areas in PG, but not affluent relative to affluent areas in other counties.
Bowie is Affluent because the average house hold income is 100k a yr. The median income in America is $50k a yr so Bowie is way over the nations median income per household.
So please get your facts straight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by live_strong28
Calling Bowie affluent is misleading. It may be "affluent" relative to other areas in PG, but not affluent relative to affluent areas in other counties.
AA disadvantaged are not riff raff. they are proud upstanding americans. and often misrepresented as dangerous and undesirable. such stereotyping needs to stop. there is no such thing as a dangerous neighborhood just lots and lots of terrible misperceptions.
a chicago native
and former s. cisero resident
signed
crazy legs huck
Bowie is Affluent because the average house hold income is 100k a yr. The median income in America is $50k a yr so Bowie is way over the nations median income per household.
So please get your facts straight.
True, but live_strong 28's point might be that relative to Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Upper NW, etc it is not nearly as "affluent." So it's an issue of semantics I guess.
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